Ivan Eland

After World War II, the United States – newly equipped with the ultimate deterrent against attack, nuclear weapons – discarded the model of the nations’ founders, who cautioned against permanent or entangling alliances. The United States created many questionable multilateral and bilateral alliances in which it agreed to defend many countries against worldwide communism, led … Continue reading “‘With Friends Like These…’”

Although Hillary seemed more likable than usual in the first presidential debate and Trump was his old angry and agitated self, they both still have record-breaking unfavorable ratings as candidates. Yet that is because overwhelmingly, people just don’t like their normal personalities. And sadly, most voters never get beyond a superficial grasp of their policy … Continue reading “First Debate Showed That Both Major Candidates Stink on Foreign Policy”

As President Obama gave his valedictory speech to the United Nations General Assembly and has recently returned from a farewell tour of East Asia, it sure seems like other countries were dissing him. Rodrigo Duterte, the president of the Philippines – a small, poor country that has a territorial dispute with China in the South … Continue reading “Why President Obama Has Difficulty Garnering Respect Internationally”

Unless some unforeseen miracle happens for Donald Trump, Hawkish Hillary (at least as accurate a nickname as Crooked Hillary) is likely to be the next president of the United States. Although Hillary has run legitimate political ads implying that Trump’s temperament is too volatile to be left with command of the military, especially nuclear weapons, … Continue reading “Will Hillary Lead Us Deeper Into a Quagmire in Syria?”

The U.S. Army has been falsifying its accounting records to the tune of $6.5 trillion for the year, according to a recent report by Department of Defense auditors. And the Department of Defense has been falsifying its accounting on a massive scale for years, as was reported by Reuters in 2013 and others stretching back … Continue reading “We Don’t Know If the Department of Defense Is Actually Providing Security”

Turkey’s recent flirtation with Russia, by mending fences, is designed as a signal to the United States, its major NATO benefactor, that Turkish ire is up over perceived lukewarm Western support for its broad domestic crackdown after the recent failed coup attempt. In addition, the Turks are angry that the U.S. government has not quickly … Continue reading “Turkish-Russian Rapprochement Shouldn’t Worry the United States”

Now that Donald Trump has won the Republican nomination, capitalizing on his image as a nationalist tough guy, he needs to fill in some of the details on his strategic vision for a proper American role in the world. By correctly declaring the NATO alliance obsolete and urging U.S. East Asian allies, such as Japan … Continue reading “Trump Needs To Flesh Out a Strategic Vision for U.S. Foreign Policy”

Lately, the tactics of local police departments have been in the news because of mass shootings at Orlando and Fort Myers nightclubs, questionable police killings of civilians in suburban St. Paul and Baton Rouge, and retaliatory slayings of police in Baton Rouge and Dallas. Some commentators have argued convincingly that the militarization of police departments … Continue reading “Trading Places: Swapping the Roles of Police and Military Is Bad for the Republic”

In the wake of the two seemingly outrageous slayings of African American men by police in Minnesota and Louisiana and the equally heinous retaliatory killings of five police officers in Dallas by a black former Army Reservist, questions have been raised in all three cases about excessive police behavior. Police surrogates on the cable TV … Continue reading “Should Police Use Bombs To Kill Criminals?”

The nation’s observed birthday – July 4th – always brings forth what passes for modern day "patriotism": prominent displays of the flag everywhere, celebration of the military, picnics, backyard barbecues, and of course fireworks. There is even an occasional tribute to the nation’s "founders," those men who supposedly signed the Declaration of Independence on that … Continue reading “At Their Own Peril, Americans Are Fuzzy on History”